Charcoal briquettes are used by millions of consumers as a means of cooking food outdoors. Foods cooked with charcoal have a unique, flavor and wide appeal. Commonly available charcoal briquettes have a high density and provide a slow-burning fuel with a high BTU output. The charcoal briquettes' dense structure and low porosity keep the charcoal burning slowly for an extended period of time.
However, one of the shortcomings of conventional charcoal briquettes is that the briquettes are difficult to ignite and may not continue to burn, even after they appear to have been ignited. To address this problem, conventional charcoal manufactures often spray the briquettes with a petroleum solvent to create “easy-to-light” briquettes. More commonly, charcoal lighter fluid is used to ignite the briquettes. Both of these processes require the use of flammable petroleum-based materials. Petroleum-based materials are not renewable (i.e. “green”) and may impart unwanted flavors and chemicals to the meat. Furthermore, the use of charcoal lighter fluid has been identified as a source of air pollution in urban areas.
In the case of traditional charcoal lighter fluid, the fluid is commonly stored in a user's home, where it has the potential to be misused or ingested by children. Multiple burn injuries occur every year because people use too much of the lighter fluid, or allow the lighter fluid to get on their hands or clothes. The lighter fluid is then inadvertently ignited as a user smokes a cigarette or attempts to light the briquettes.
The need exists for a charcoal cooking material that does not rely on a volatile petroleum-based lighter fluid or solvent to ignite and sustain a fire. The current invention comprises a foamed, lightweight charcoal that may be formed into traditional charcoal briquettes or other suitable cooking and heating forms. The foamed charcoal of the current invention comprises a closed, thin-walled porous and permeable charcoal structure that facilitates the flow of oxygen to the ignited portions of the charcoal and thereby enables the briquettes to ignite easily and quickly without the use of petroleum products.